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Key Colour Coding

Twilight of the Gods: Page 754

754

[T.P: G]

And now Bruennhilde asks Siegfried to follow her lead in swearing an oath that the two of them will preserve the very special sort of love which they share, i.e., that he’ll preserve, cherish, and guard her function as his muse of unconscious artistic inspiration, so she can fulfill her sole purpose as his muse, to inspire his heroic deeds of art: presumably this is what she means when she tells him below that if he would bestow his love on her, he must be mindful only of himself and his exploits, i.e., his new adventures, a metaphor for the works of art she’ll inspire him to create:

Bruennhilde:(#148 [#103] vari >>: [in a rhythmic, dance-like vari as heard in Siegfried’s Rhine Journey])If you’d bestow your love on me, (#voc?: [perhaps a musical reference to Bruennhilde’s remark to Wotan in V.2.2: “… who am I if not your will?”?])be mindful only of yourself(:#voc? [back reference to Bruennhilde’s remark: “… who am I if not your will?”?]), be mindful of your exploits(:#148)! Recall the raging fire(#15/#103: [could this also contain #35 vari or #100?])through which you(#15/#103:)fearlessly passed(#103?)–(#92)when it burned round the fell –(#150; #77?; #148?)

Bruennhilde:(#149:; voc?: [reminiscent of the cello solo from the 1860 Venusberg music inTannhaeuser? – is it related to #153?])Recall the oaths that unite us(:#149; :#voc? [Venusberg reference or #153?]);(#149)recall the trust that we place in each other;(#150)recall the(#149:)love for(#150:)which we(#149: [a painful, sustained note on “leben,” i.e., “live,” which follows])live:(#58b hint?: [something curious happens here. we hear a painful phrase, perhaps shared by voc & orch, reminiscent of Siegmund’s version of #58b?])Bruennhilde then will burn for aye